It is known in the art to print information on labels mounted on a peel-away backing which is fed under a printing head. An example of such a printer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,155 to Relyea et al. for a Custom Label Printer. Printers like the one disclosed by Relyea used a motor driven system, including clutch and brake sub-systems, to move each label under a print head, to stop the movement when the label is in position, e.g., upon detection of the edge of the label, to imprint the label, and then to restart the movement of the labels until the next one is in position. Such mechanisms, which employ a continuously driven motor, and brake and clutch sub-systems to stop and start the movement of labels, are complex and expensive. Similar motor driven systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,717,059 to Takahashi for a Label Positioning Method and Label Feeder for Continuous Label Printer, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,516 to Toft et al. for a Multiple Station Label Printing Machine.
The label printers of the prior art are generally used in environments wherein high volumes of labels are to be continuously printed. Their power requirements, maintenance demands, and operator skill requirements make them unsuitable for use in environments where single labels must be periodically printed for use by workers unskilled at operating printing machinery.